"In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman".
Margaret Thatcher
Well said Margaret Thatcher , but this is not just confined to British politics during her time period. Many commentators believe that this feeling is entering all kinds of fields and activities of life. For the sake of this article we shall be looking at the woman in relation to the Indian corporate sector and also what cultural aspects may be responsible for the present position. So let us first
look at the following numbers in the global scenario: the number of woman in management for Fortune 500 companies has increased from 9.5% to 13.6% during the period from 1995 to 2001. Similarly in India in the recent period especially during the past decade, not only is there an increase in woman in different kinds of management positions but also a rise in the number of those heading and running companies and organizations.
But let us see what goes in the mind of our protagonist, who is an Indian lady who is aspiring to have a career-oriented role: “A woman may be professionally qualified but she cannot be a professional. A career oriented life for an Indian woman? You must be joking. What will happen to her plans of getting married and settling down? Even if she works for a while, she would be asked to quit after she gets married. For who will look after the family? Who will bear kids and raise them? And besides most of the average Indian male does not want to live on the earnings of his wife. Who wants to handle the clash, which is bound to take birth if the wife starts earning more than the husband?2 At most the wife may be expected to teach in a school or open a boutique or work on an absolutely not required job in her husband’s business…just to keep her busy.
If a girl happens to take up a career of her choice, which demands the best out of her like management, she has to make several compromises. She may have to call it quits as soon as she gets married, or she may have to handle dirty looks whenever she ends up working late or going out of station for a meeting, when she is transferred but her husband doesn’t want to move (if the husband is transferred she is surely expected to resign to join him), when she has to bear kids and then raise them etc. etc. etc. What then happens to the so-called professional Indian working woman? Well it is a humbug. The professionalism and ambition are killed on the pretext of a happy married life. If some try to keep them alive, they have to face social ostracism as either they become too old to marry or end up having a heavily problematic married life. So then do we kill any signs of sprouting ambition in the Indian girl’s right from their babyhood and
instill in them the social expectations that they will inevitably face or do we still nurture their talent? What is the point when we are pushing them into a dilemma? They will be educated to be independent, ambitious and professional but will have to give all this up at some stage in their life. And if they don’t who will look after our families? Who will chisel the minds of our little ones and nurture them with morals, ethics and values? What will happen to our future generation? For the mother moulds the children into good and responsible human beings. We face today a catch twenty situation. To be or not to be is the question.”
Hmmm...let see next time what can be the reason for such activities?
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